General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhat about Facebook? (Russian interference)
Facebook was the primary tool the Russians used to swing the election to Trump. Zuckerberg was warned repeatedly and denied Facebook played a role or had any responsibility. It wasn't until after the election that Zuckerberg admitted how they were used.
My question is this, shouldn't Facebook be taken to task now? They say they've made some updates and filter fake news better now, but that's not nearly enough.
Here's what I propose they be required to do:
1. Do a complete retrospective, they now have names and accounts of known Russian interference agents. Log each one and document each of the stories that they spread.
2. Send notices out to anyone who read or shared a story from any of the known Russian users and groups. Something along the lines of a couple paragraphs explaining exactly where the stories came from and how they were fake.
3. Suspend the accounts of Facebook users temporarily who spread many of these stories and belonged to many of the Russian Anti Hillary Facebook Groups. The users could easily reactivate their accounts simply by reading a short blurb about what they helped spread and acknowledging the fake stories. The suspension lengths can vary on the severity of the user's participation in the Russian smear campaign.
4. Put robust measures in place immediately to stop it from happening again for this year's cycle. It's already well under way. A team of 10,000 Facebook monitors who purge their application of obvious fake stories and Russian generated accounts.
It's a literal factual statement to say that the Russian's used Facebook to give the election to Trump. This can't be allowed to happen again. I for one want to know if I liked and shared fake stories too, I know many Bernie users on my feed did. I would think Trump voters would also want to know that they helped the Russians in their efforts to disrupt our Democracy.
chuckstevens
(1,201 posts)PJMcK
(22,047 posts)It exemplifies the problems with our society.